Metal furniture



June 25, 1929. VERICEYL 1,718,321

' METAL FURNITURE Filed Nov. 2, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 25, 1929. A.VERICEL -METAL FURNITURE Filed Nov. 2, 1926 2 She ets-Sheet -2 PatentedJune 25, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTOINE VEBICEL, OF BALDWIN, NEW YORK, ASSIONOB TO DOEHLER PRODUCTSCORR, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METAL FURNITURE.

Application filed November 2, 1926. Serial No. 145,726.

My invention has particular reference to articles of furniture which areintended to be:

sat upon, such as chairs or the like, although in certain respectsmy'invention is applicable 6 to other types of furniture. My inventionwill perhaps find its chief utility in metal seats, and, since myinvention is well exemplified by an embodiment in a metal chair, .Ishall use that embodiment as the illustration 10 with which to explainmy invention. Furniture by its very nature is as a rule of considerablebulk and occupies an undue amount of space for shipment. The trend hastherefore been toward collapsible or knockdown furniture, as it isknown, that is, furniture in separable sections which can be assembledin situ. In my co-pen-ding application Serial Number 124,946, filed July26, 1926, I have disclosed an article of furniture of that character.That particularly is the type of furniture which has drawers, such as abureau, one advantage of which is the fact that it is whollyself-contained and is very easily assembled and set up and dispensesaltogether with the use of any screws or bolts without any sacrifice instrength or rigidity.

To an increasing extent metal is replacing wood as the materlal fromwhich furniture is made, and the problems which arise in devising acollapsible or knock-down chair are best solved in metal. Appearance andweight limitations restrict the size of the parts, and nevertheless thecharacter of use is such that a maximum of strength and ,firmness isrequired. This is further complicated by the desirability of sosectioning the chair that each section is flat, in order to reduce to aminimum the space occupied by the knocked down chair. f

One of the merits of my invention is the fact that the requisitestrength is provided at the joints between the seat and the legs, wherethe chief strain comes upon a chair or like article. Another featurewhich characterizes my invention is the fact that when fabricated ofmetal the chair or other article canvbe made virtually as light as whenmade of wood, and this for the reason that the sections are such thatthey mutually reinforce each other and so distribute the strains as topermit the parts to be made of relatively small cross-section. Anotherfeature characterizing my invention is the fact that the sectiomng issuch that In a satisfactory embodiment of my inven-' tion, two of thefiat sections are similar, each belng'composed of a side seat-supportingor frame member with a leg at one end integral therewith, another'section is composed of the other two legs joined at the top by acrossp1ece which interlocks at its ends-withth'e free andiof therespective side Ynembers, and the fiat seat. forms the key-section,being fashioned to interlock with the opposite ends of the side membersand with the cross-piece. Ifthe seat is a chair and has a back, the backmay be integral with the separate leg section if that be the back legs,but I have found that the article is stronger and more rigid 1f the topand inside. of the back comprise one section, and the side pieces beintegral upright extensions of the seat side pieces with provision forsuitable interlocking with the other back section. The advantage of thisis the fact that an occupant of the chair usually leans against the backat the same time that his weight is on the seat, and therefore theresections separated but in their respective rel- 1 ative positions forassembly.

hFig. 3 is a perspective view of the complete 0 am Fig. 4 shows thesections disassembled and 2 arranged for packing.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section of the chair from front to rear.

Fig. 6 is a sectional detail through one side of the seat as indicatedby line 66 of Fig. 5. The illustrated chair is made of metal, theseveral sections being of such shape that leg section 3, a back rest 4and a seat 5. The.

side members 1 and 2 have a doubled bend and constitute side seat-pieces1 and 2, the front legs 1 and 2 integral with the front ends of therespective side-pieces, and upright side back-pieces 1 and 2 integralwith the rear ends of the respective side-pieces. The side back-members1 and 2 are provided attheir upper ends with mortises 6 and 7 and alsowith side mortises 8 and 9 in their respective inner sides, as shown.The back rest member 4 is provided with tenons 11 and 12 adapted tocooperate with the top mortises 6 and 7 and additional tenons 13 and 14to cooperate with the side mortises 8 and 9.

The back leg section 3 is composed of the two rear legs 3 and 3connected at. their top ends by a cross piece 3. This cross piece ischanneled longitudinally of its front face to enable it to interlocksuitably with the seat portion 5, as will be hereinafter explained.

The cross piece at its ends in line with the respective legs is providedwith mortises 15 and 16. The side-sections 1 and 2 are equipped withdepending tenons 17 and 18, respectively, in line with the sideback-sections 1 and 2, which tenons are adapted to cooperate with themortises 15 and 16 in the rear leg section 3. The channeled portion ofthe cross-section 3 extends only for the distance inside of theside-sections when the parts are assembled, a shoulder being thusprovided near each end of the cross-piece to bear against the innercorners of the sidesections and assist in'rendering'these joints morerigid when the parts are assembled;

The side seat-pieces 1 and 2 are also provided with mortised bosses 19and 20v on the front ends of their respective inner faces.'

" The seat-section 5 is provided with an interlocking ledge 21 at itsrear edge and also with tenons 22 and 23 on its under side at itsopposite front corners in position to cooperate with the mortises in thebosses 19 and 20. In addition, lugs 24 and 25 are provided on therespective inner faces of: the side seatpieces 1 and 2 near their rearends. These lugs have flattened upper faces and are of the correctheight to provide a bearing for the seat member 5. The tenons 22 and 23are equipped with spring washer clips 22 and 23, respectively, at theirlower ends. These spring washers are adapted to enter through themortises in the bosses 19 and 20 and to expand after clearing the loweredges thereof so-as to hold the tenons 22 and 23 in place in themortises. The ledge 21 will be entered within the channel in thecross-piece 3 and bear upward against the cross-piece when the seatrests upon'the lugs 24 and 25 with the tenons 22 and 23 in the mortisesof the bosses 19 and 20. In this way the seat serves to lock the rearlegsection 3 in place and to give it further rigidity.

Attention is called to the fact that every section is flat and that thesections are susceptible ofbeing compactly arranged, as

illustrated in Fig. 4, and shipped in a flat box of relatively smalldimensions. The chair is readily assembled and'disassembled.Inassembling the sections, one of the sidesections, for example, section1, may be held approximately'in its normal upright position and theback-section 4 be applied to the side back-piece 1 with the tenon 11 inthe mortise 6 and the tenon 13 in the mortise 8. The other side-section2 will then be applied to the back-section 4 by entering the tenon 12 inthe mortise 7 and the tenon 14 in the mortise 9. The back leg-section 3will then be assembled by entering the tenons 17 and 18 in the mortises15 and 16. At this stage of the assembly the structure is normallyself-supporting and need no longer be held in position by the one doingthe assembling, but may be stood 'upon its four legs, The seat section 5will finally be applied. This is done by first entering the ledge 21within the channel of the cross-piece 3. The tenons 22 and 23 are thenentered in their respective mortises in the bosses 19 and 20 and thefront edge of the seat is then pushed down until the spring washers 22and 23 pass through the mortises. .In this position the seat rests uponthe lugs 24 and 25 and bears upwardly with its rear end against theinner face of the channel in the cross-piece 3. This'lever action of theseat-section 5 holds the back leg-section 3 firmly against the underedges of the respective side seat-pieces 1 and 2 and prevents spreadingor movement at this point. The engagement of the tenons 13 and 14 in themortises 8 and 9 prevents any upward movement of the back rest section4. The tenons 11 and 12 are thus also held firmly in the mortises 6 and7 and serve as a tie to hold the upper ends of the side-sections againstseparating. The various members thus assembled are firmly locked andinter-supported, the seat-section serving I as the key-section which isreleasably locked in place by the spring washers 22 and 23 Theseat-section 5 is shown as a hollow frame for holding a suitable filler5". The form of spring lock shown may, of course, be modified or may bedispensed with altogether. The characteristic of this particularconstruction is 'the fact that this seat when in place rigidly locks allthe other sections into a. firm, unitary chair. Obviously, the seat maybe secured in place in other Ways than in the manner shown. For example,it may be held by bolts or screws, although the particular form ofinterlocking construction shown has advantages which will be readilyrecognized. The chair may, of

course, be sectioned in other ways than that illustrated and still haveeach section fiat, although I have found this particular arrangement tomake a very rigid structure when assembled.

It is obvious that various other modifications may be made in theconstruction shown in the drawings and above particularly describedwithin the invention.

I claim:

1. A chair or the like composed ofa plurality of flat separablesections, two of the sections being side pieces for the seat and a legintegral with each piece, another section being the other two legsjoined at the top by a cross piece, and another section being a seat;means for securing the ends of the cross piece to the free ends of theside pieces, means for securing the seat to the side pieces at thecorners where they join the integral legs, and means carried by the seatat its other end to lock the cross-piece against detachment from theside pieces.

2. A chain or the like comprising a plurality of flat separablesections, two-=of-the sections being side pieces for the seat with theprinciple and scope of my corresponding front leo integral with eachpiece, another section being the two back legs oined at the top byacross piece, and another section being a seat; means for securing theends of the cross piece to the rear ends of the side pieces, and meansfor securing the seat to the side pieces at the front corners and forinterlocking the rear edge of the seat and the cross piece.

3. A chair or the like comprising a plurality of fiat separablesections, two of the sections being respectively left and right handside pieces including a side seat-piece and a front leg integral withone end and a side back-piece integral with the other end, anothersection being a back rest section attached to the side back-pieces,another section being the two back legs joined at their top by a crosspiece and attached to the rear ends of the side seat-pieces, and anothersection being a seat attached to the side seat-pieces.

4. A knock-down chair comprising a plurality of flat interlockingsections, two of the sections being respectively legs and right handside pieces including aside seat-piece and a front leg integral with oneend and a side back-piece integral with the other end,

another section being a back filling section,

means for interlocking said back leg-piece with the side back-pieces,another section being the two back legs joined at their top by a mortiseand tenon elements for directlji'.

uniting said side piece members and said bac leg piece.

6. A metal chair comprising a pair of side piece members and tie memberstherebetween, comprising a back member, mortise and tenon elementsinterlocking said back member with said side members, a back leg piececomprising a pair of leg members, an integral cross member uniting theiru er ends, mortise and tenon elements for irectly uniting said sidepiece members and said back leg piece, and means comprising a seatmember and angle projections on said side pieces and 8. led e on saidback leg piece for interlocking said back leg piece with said sidemembers.

7 A metal chair comprising a pair of side piece members and tie memberstherebetween, comprising a back member, mortise and tenon elementsinterlocking-said back member with said side members, a back leg piececomprising a air of leg members, an integral cross mem er uniting theiru per ends, mortise and tenon elements for irectly uniting said sidepiece members and said back leg piece, means comprising a seat memberand angle projections on said side pieces and a ledge on said back legpiece for interlocking said back leg piece with said side members, ininterlocked engagement.

8. A chair com rising a pair of side piece members provide with inwardlyextending front and rear seat supports, a back leg piece comprising apair of leg members, an integral channeled cross member uniting theirupper ends, means for interlocking sa1d cross member with said sidemembers, a seat member supported on said rear seat supports having aprojection along the rear edge thereof and detachably secured to saidfront supports, said projection on said seat member adapted to engage aweb of said channel in said cross member.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my signature.

ANTOINE VERICEL.

